Now heres one for ya ! !

Willis Vanderberg · Post by **Willis Vanderberg** » 7 May 2004 12:42 pm

I listed a red pedal steel guitar case on ebay. the listing was titled..Steel guitar case, ShoBud ?.
I was just notified my listing was cancelled. A complaint was filed by the Gretsch Company. The message I received from ebay was. " the intellectual property owner notified ebay my listing infringes on their trademark or copyright or other right.Go figure...

Nate LaPointe · Post by **Nate LaPointe** » 7 May 2004 1:11 pm

That's the most bizzarre thing I've heard all day! That's like if an artist walked into a used CD shop and said to the management, "you can't sell my CD in here because it infringes on the copyright."

Really, go figure!

Darvin Willhoite · Post by **Darvin Willhoite** » 7 May 2004 1:46 pm

A year of so ago I had the same thing happen. I listed some old cable pull parts as being possibly for a Bigsby? steel guitar and Ebay cancelled my listing. Mine even had some bids. When I complained, Ebay told me I must contact Gretsch's legal department, so I sent 5 or 6 emails to the email address supplied by Ebay and got no replies, of course.

I then started in on Ebay. I talked to 2 or 3 different representatives from Ebay and they all said there was nothing they could do since Gretsch had signed up with their copyright protection program. They wouldn't listen to me even though I am an Ebay stockholder. Maybe this is why the Gretsch company doesn't amount to much anymore.

BTW, I recently read an interview with Chet Atkins shortly before he died, and he told why he went back to Gibson in the '80's. He could not get Gretsch to listen to any of his ideas, and most of their ideas had gotten way out there. The Gibson people were all ears when he went back to them and tripped all over themselves to make just what he wanted. Gibson evidently has a totally different philosophy, which is probably why they have experienced a drastic turnaround in the last few years. And Gretsch...Who are they????

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Darvin Willhoite
Riva Ridge Recording

Willis Vanderberg · Post by **Willis Vanderberg** » 7 May 2004 2:55 pm

Here's the latest update.
ebay notified me that any attempt to relist this item or any similar items could result in my privilages being suspended .If I have a problem with this I am to contact Gratsch legal, I e- mailed them at the address provided. I don't really expect an answer..

James Morehead · Post by **James Morehead** » 7 May 2004 4:24 pm

You'd think they could find something better to worry about, than pick on some little guy.

David Doggett · Post by **David Doggett** » 7 May 2004 5:48 pm

I never heard of such a thing. You mean anytime anyone wants to sell a used item they have to get permission from the original manufacturer? That can't be right. And if that's not true, then how is this EBay situation different?

Roy Ayres · Post by **Roy Ayres** » 7 May 2004 7:09 pm

Who is Gretsch?????????

(Hey, Bud, maybe we should be careful putting that name on the Forum -- with that attitude they may sue us.)

Tom Callahan · Post by **Tom Callahan** » 8 May 2004 5:32 am

Well to be on the safe side, I am changing my ad for selling our motor home to read. "Mobile 27' temporary housing unit. Contains various items to aid in comfortable survival when in use. Able to rapidly moved under it own power with minimual effort on the person in control of the steering,"
There I think that will be safe.
Don't know what I will do if I sell my "Precious metal bird appendage" Motorcycle.
Some things can be carried to extremes.

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T.C.
Emmons S-10
G.F.I. S-10

David L. Donald · Post by **David L. Donald** » 8 May 2004 7:05 am

"And Gretsch...Who are they???? "

Apparently a smallish law firm with and internet connection and time on their hands.

I suspect they think they are protecting their few and far between dealers from the used market losing them sales.

But I really don't see the logic.

Brad Sarno · Post by **Brad Sarno** » 8 May 2004 1:44 pm

SHO-BUD, SHO-BUD, SHO-BUD!

Respectfully,

Brad Sarno

Willis Vanderberg · Post by **Willis Vanderberg** » 8 May 2004 1:56 pm

All right Brad:
Just for that, go stick your head in a little black box,or was it get your head out of the little black box...You are a funny guy

Al Marcus · Post by **Al Marcus** » 8 May 2004 8:25 pm

Hi Bud-Check your email....al

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My Website..... www.cmedic.net/~almarcus/

Nick Reed · Post by **Nick Reed** » 8 May 2004 8:44 pm

Oh Well!

What the Hell!

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 8 May 2004 9:59 pm

Why not just say it's for a "Bud". It would be interesting to see Fred (the A$$hole) Gretsch and Anheuser Busch battle it out to see who will sue you. And, every self respecting PSG player will know what you are talking about if you just say "Bud". Let's see, is it "Bud, the king of beers" or "Bud, the king of steels"?

And Mr. Reed. Stop posting those fine pictures you always come up with. I've drooled so much that I have spent over 5 minutes submerged and am suffering irreversible brain damage. Is that your "Bud"? Nice!!

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Carter D10 9p/10k, NV400

Bill Llewellyn · Post by **Bill Llewellyn** » 9 May 2004 7:50 am

One can't list on eBay by manufacturer name without permission?

Holy smoke! I just did an eBay search for one of the biggest brand names I could think of, Sony, and the summary page said "2364 matching categories found for Sony". Mind you, that lists the number of categories, not the number of items within each category. I clicked on the DVD player/recorder category and found 456 items, each title starting with the word "Sony." So it seems whether or not a manufacturer's name or merchandise is disallowed must depend on the manufacturer. Sony (and many others) could have an absolute field day on this if they wanted.

It still seems odd that any given Company XYZ wouldn't allow their used gear to be sold on eBay.

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Bill, steelin' since '99 | Steel page | My music | Steelers' birthdays | Over 50?

C. Brattain · Post by **C. Brattain** » 9 May 2004 8:48 am

What is the deal with Bill Lawrence???? I have been selling their acoustic guitar pick ups for about 10 years. Last year I ordered and paid for $400.00 worth of pick ups and had trouble selling model A-300 so I put one on ebay. Becky from Bill Lawrence told ebay that they were FAKE so ebay kicked my auction off. I looked up my invoice and called the # and talked to a guy named E.Z. Wajcman and he said that Bill Lawrence had went Bankrupt and E.Z Wajcman bought him out and now he was trying to get back into business. Becky will not answer my email and I thank that is not right????????? Chuck

Bobby Lee · Post by **Bobby Lee** » 9 May 2004 10:01 am

I have not heard anything about BL going out of business. It seems highly unlikely that the guy they accuse of peddling counterfeit BL pickups would buy them out. See Becky's page about fakes on the BL web site.

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<img align=right src="http://b0b.com/Hotb0b.gif" width="96 height="96">Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs, Open Hearts
Sierra Session 12 (E9), Williams 400X (Emaj9, D6), Sierra Olympic 12 (C6add9),
Sierra Laptop 8 (E6add9), Fender Stringmaster (E13, A6),
Roland Handsonic, Line 6 Variax

C. Brattain · Post by **C. Brattain** » 9 May 2004 1:44 pm

How can these people sell fake pick ups for 10 years and not be closed down???????

Why is Beckey not nice enough to answer my email??????

I have been in this business since 1948 and I have never heard of anything like this.

David Mason · Post by **David Mason** » 9 May 2004 2:28 pm

I think it must have become easier to make money suing people (or just threatening to sue them and settling out of court) than by manufacturing a high-quality product that people want to buy. Why work for a living when you can just sue instead? (See Gibson/PRS, Fender's new body shape copyrights, etc.)

Paddy Long · Post by **Paddy Long** » 9 May 2004 9:04 pm

I mentioned "SHO-BUD" a couple of times this morning, but I think I got away with it!!!

steve takacs · Post by **steve takacs** » 10 May 2004 1:56 am

From the land of patent infringements galore, I believe I can speak with some authority on the matter (...well not really, but I thought that sounded good.). Did not patent infringements only apply to selling items that were rip-off copies of the real items? Perhaps The Gretsch brothers & sisters thought the red case was not a Sho-Bud case though it was being claimed as such. Have any Forumites owned or seen a red Sho-Bud case, or was this a red herring? "The truth is sometimes stranger than fiction." (Just to set the record straight, and protect me from a possible lawsuit, I did not come up with that quote.) steve

Chuck McGill · Post by **Chuck McGill** » 10 May 2004 3:25 am

You guys should think about who owns Gretch
now.
Big Brother

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 10 May 2004 9:22 am

Now this is really odd as there are over 400 adds for Gretsch guitars for sale on EBAY.

Unless we are all missing something here this is really out of whack...was there something in the auction title or in the add that was possibly legally not permitted ?

I have just taken a look and there are a few items listed as "Sho-Bud"...whatevers..they are still listed..go figure..

People sell stuff everyday..all day..all year..every year..with brand names attached to them..Does a used Cheverolet come to mind ?

This is May 10th and not April 1st..isn't it ?

t

[This message was edited by Tony Prior on 10 May 2004 at 10:31 AM.]

Bobby Lee · Post by **Bobby Lee** » 10 May 2004 10:09 am

Maybe it was the question mark.

People sometimes include "not [something]" in a title to get more hits on a search. For example "Fender Amp not Mesa/Boogie" would show up in a search for "Mesa/Boogie". I can't imagine that Mesa would be pleased with that title.

So maybe the trademark police show up whenever the item doesn't match the brand name in the title.

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<img align=right src="http://b0b.com/Hotb0b.gif" width="96 height="96">Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs, Open Hearts
Sierra Session 12 (E9), Williams 400X (Emaj9, D6), Sierra Olympic 12 (C6add9),
Sierra Laptop 8 (E6add9), Fender Stringmaster (E13, A6),
Roland Handsonic, Line 6 Variax[This message was edited by Bobby Lee on 10 May 2004 at 11:10 AM.]

Jim Phelps · Post by **Jim Phelps** » 12 May 2004 9:25 pm

.[This message was edited by Jim Phelps on 17 November 2004 at 08:50 PM.]